Legislative Update for 06/20/16

The final weeks of each legislative session are marked by a few familiar signs, many of which have been seen over the past week, raising hopes that the General Assembly may well be nearing adjournment. Both chambers are moving bills through their respective Rules Committees, typically used as a clearinghouse at the end of session as the chambers’ regular committees begin to shut down. Last-minute committee hearings have been called, sometimes after the day’s session has concluded, to move bills through the process as expeditiously as possible. Budget subcommittee negotiators took to social media to announce they’d reached agreement with their counterparts, and the Senior Budget Chair in the House provided an update on the overall negotiations that provided some hope the two chambers are nearing a compromise. While controversial issues like Certificate of Need and continued tax reform were discussed in committee, neither seemed to be issues that would create a session-extending logjam in the way differences on Medicaid Reform and Teacher Assistants did in the past few sessions. Despite some furious lobbying on a number of issues, most of the proposals viewed as being controversial are being pushed off to the 2017 long session, with “we’re wrapping up” being offered as increasingly common explanation. There are a few issues that may cause some delay, however. Both chambers passed a 2016 Regulatory Reduction Act, though the versions were quite different, which will require a compromise version to be negotiated between the chambers. Tentative progress on a bill to repeal parts of the controversial House Bill 2 seems to have stalled, though pressure on the legislature to act on the issue remains strong. Budget negotiations could deadlock on any number of issues; however, the signs on Jones St. continue to point to a common priority of both chambers – adjournment as close to the end of June as possible. Read the full report here.